Bag structure



T. E. PIAZZE BAG STRUCTURE March 3, 1942.

Filed April l, 1938 Ffgl 2 a 72 NVENTOR. 5' 5W' ATToRNEY.

Patented Mar. 3, 1942 BAG STRUCTURE Thomas E. Piazze, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Marshall & Ilsley Bank,

Milwaukee, Wis.,

a Wisconsin bank AApplication April 1, 1938, Serial No. 199,369

" 1 Claim. (Cl. 22S-,53)

My present invention relates generally to improvements in the art of manufacturing receptacles for confining batches of various commodities, and relates more specifically to improvements inthe construction of bags formed of cellulose iilm or similar relatively thin and frail sheet material.

In general, an object of my present invention is to provide an improved bag structure formed of celiuloselmor the like, which can be more readily distended, loaded and closed and sealed without danger of tearing.

It'iscommon commercial practice in the art of handling and merchandising many granular commodities, to provide transparent bags formed of cellulose film or other thin and relatively transparent sheet material, for the reception and concealment of. batches ofthe granular material. These bags are ordinarily formed from a continuous ribbon of'stock which is folded and glued into l tubular-formation and severed into successive sections each of which is subsequently transversely folded andy fastened at one end so as'to produce a flattened b a'g. These bags are subsequently stacked in flattened condition upon each other and l.distributed to the users in bundles, thus sharply creasing the longitudinally folded side edges/of the bag structures especially adjacent to the open end of each bag. When the bags are to be filled, each bag is distended by hand for admission of the batch of commodity, andbecause of the thin and relatively frail'character of the cellulose lm, andthe tension applied to the edges of the bag bounding the opening, these prior bag structures frequently tear inwardlyV from these edges and become useless. When a tear once starts, it will'rapidly continue into the body of the bag and will make the same useless as a container. After each bag has been supplied with commodity, the open end is first pressed into flat conditicnand is subsequently transversely folded and refolded by hand to produce a double overlapped seal which is nally stapled or otherwise fastened to maintain the closure.

Because of the fact that cellulose film has no marked grain which will cause it to fold along a definite and straight line, the present method of closing these bags relies entirely upon the accuracy in performance of the operator in order to produce a straight and uniform fold, and hence a neat seal. The result is, that very few of the hand closed bags of this type, are neatly sealed lwith folds of uniform width, and the appearance of the successive packages is not at all uniform but in fact very irregular.

It is therefore a more specific object of my present invention to provide extremely simple yet highly effective instrumentalities for obviating such undesirable tearing of bags formed of cellulose iilmor the like, and for producing neat and uniform folded closures after the bags have been .supplied with commodity.

In accordance with my present invention, these improved results are obtained by merely transversely scoring each bag transversely of its length at the place where it is desired to produce the first final closing or sealing fold. It has been found that this transverse scoring not only permits more convenient and uniform folding of the bag during closure along an absolutely definite line located a definite distance from the extreme bag ende, to thereby provide neat and 'uniform closing folds; but the scoring also relieves the edge tension during distendingi of the bag and thus'reduces danger of tearing, and furthermore retards any tearing which takes place starting at the free edge of the bag, from proceeding beyond the score lines, thus eliminating excessive Waste of bags.

A clear conception of an embodiment of my present invention, and of the mode of constructing and o f utilizing bags manufactured in accordance withv the'imprcvement, may be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the various Views.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the distended open end of one type of the improved bags;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the improved bags of Fig. 1 in collapsed condition, portions of the top of the bag having been broken away;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the top of the bag of Fig. 1, after the first closing fold has been made;

Fig. 4 is a similar fragmentary view, showing the bag opening finally sealed by double folding and stapling;

Fig. 5 is a section through the open bag end, taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 2 and showing the body of the bag slightly distended;

Fig. 6 is a similar section through the inlet end of the bag, the section having been taken along the line 6 6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is another similar section through the inlet end of the finally sealed bag, the section being taken along the line l-l of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a modified type of bag embodying my invention.

taposition. f will thenpermit simultaneous and uniformfolding of the corresponding end portions of all of',

lthepanels or walls Ill, II, I2 in the form -of a common flap 2l and the scoring I8', I9, 20 should y While I have shown the invention as being applied to an accordion type of bag formed of transparent cellulose film and nally sealed by stapling, it is not the intent to thereby unnecessarily restrict the scope, since the improvement y is more generally applicable to other types of bags formed of other kinds of sheet material and finally sealed by other methods.

Referring to the drawing, the transparent bags illustrated therein are preferably formed of a sheet of cellulose film or the like folded to provide a smooth front wall I; an overlapped and n vadhesively joined rear Wall II; intervening relatively and inwardly foldable side walls I2 connected to the front and rear walls Ill, II along sharp outer edge creases I3, and to each other along similar inner edge creases I4; and a bottom flap I5 folded over and secured to either .the front or the rear wall by means of adhesive or otherwise so as to complete the bag assenribIage. The walls I0, II, I2 may be of 'varivcollapsedcondition. While the edges I6, I1 are shown'as beingsubstantially straight or rectili- 'neal, they may be serrated or curved, these various formations being well known to those skilled l, in theatre.

The bag assemblage just described is of well [known construction, and in accordance with my. Apresent invention, I provide scoring I8, I9, 29

transversely across the walls I9, II, I2 respectively, so that when the open bag end is collapsed,

all of the'scorev lines will be brought into jux- The adjoining scorings I8, I9, l2li preferablyv be carried completely across the creases I3, I4 in order to produce the best results.

In the type of bag shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inelusive, the portions of the panels I0, II, I2 between the edges I6, I1 and th'e transverse score mouth may be made sufiicient to approximately compensate for the inward movement of theA` edges I6', I'I during distension of the assemblage, so that the bag opening remains the same as the transverse area of the main body, of the distended bag, while the edges I 6,. Il' are still relieved from undesirable tension and resultant` This is an extremely important feature of my present invention, vespecially as ap-l plied to bags formed of cellulose lm or similar tearing.

material.

When the bag vassemblages have been thus formed and scored, they may be stacked for handling, storage and shipment, and are also ready for use. In order, to supply each' bag with commodity, it is first necessary to distend the opening as shown in Fig. 1, and while the scoring I8, I9, 204V does not impede this opening opera-I tion, it has been found that the score linesbesides relieving the 4mouth edgesv from excessive tension, also retard the walls 'I9, II', I2 from tearing beyond the score lines when a slighttear is accidentally started at one of' the free edges It,v I1. This retardation or obstruction` to continuation of the tears is especallynoticeable at the creases I3, I4 since-the crossing or intersection of the scorings I8, I9, 20 at these creases provides a slight kink in the material .which vis obstructive to the tearing action.

After the bag has been distended and thegeommodity has been introduced, the openbag -end should first be collapsed as depicted in Fig. 5, and-the flap 2I should be subsequently folded downwardly along the scoringsI8, I9, 20 as shown in Figs. 3 and 6. If a single fold closure is suf- 'cient, the flap 2| may be secured i'n folded `positionwith adhesive or by stapling, but ordinarily .a double fold closure ismore; desirable. The

initially folded flap 2 I, may then be again folded lines I8,' I9, 20, have parallel edges disposed in alinement with the creases I3, I4, as illustrated in Fig. 2, but in Fig. 8 I have shown a modified type of'bag wherein the mouth of the bag between the edges I6', I1 and the scoring, has

been stretched in any suitable manner so as to somewhat enlarge or elongate the edges IG', I'I'I two-fold object of'preventing excessivetearing 'ofi'` the bag at the mouthrduring opening and beyondth'e lineal length of the score lines. 'It has been found, that during distension of a basr having no transverse scoring near its open-end,l the f extreme bag edges I6, I1 are subjected to con-z Y i siderable tension and frequently tear either along the y'side creases or at points between these l creases. 1 lieve this edge tension at the free edges and throw the strain upon the bag at the score lines. In a bag of the type shown in Figs-1 and l2, the portions of `the panels above the scoring assume j I -a curvature and draw inwardly as illustrated in ,l Fig. 1,'and while the scoring in this type 'of bag-A The scorings I8, I9,`20 denitelyr'estill v'effectively protects the free edge and-pre- I From the foregoing against either the front or rear wall I0, II as 'illustrated in Figs. lA and 7, yafter which staples ,22 or `other fastening means may beapplied to complete the closure. The hinge joint, aorded byvthe .scorings I8, I9, 20 will obviously effect convenient and uniform folding of the end flaps 2| on the successive bags, and the free edges of these flaps will linsure uniform subsequent folding, thereby insuring .neat and absolutely uniform closures which can also bequckly produced without relying solely uponthe judgment and ac'- curacy of the individual performing the closing operation.

be apparent thatv while my invention merely comprises the provision of the transverse alined scorings I8, I9, 20,'it eifectively accomplishes the 'filling'l due to the-actionrof the, score lines., as

well as facilitating theproduction of uniform i closure folds.` While thesetransverse scorings will` not-positively prevent destruction of bags .by, tearing, they do vmaterially relieve'the 'edge Atension and thus reduce the danger of tearing ventsexcessive tearing, the inward movementl of 'these edges tends to somewhat obstruct `the j "1- introduction of the material. In a bag formed as shown inFig. 8, the previous stretching of the vThe retardation to continued located the same distance froml the extremeA end of the bag,and lie in the same transverse plane, they will assume adjoining positions when `the bag 'is collapsed so as toinsure uniform folding, and these-score lines may obviouslyv be simultaneously produced with asingle simple creasdetailed description it will ing operation. The invention has proven extremely advantageous in actual comercial use, and may be applied to various types and sizes of bags.

It should be understood that it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact details of construction or to the precise mode of use, herein shown and described, for various modications within the scpe of the claim may occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

A bag of thin highly flexible cellulose sheet material adapted to be collapsed into ilat condition and susceptible of contracting at the bag mouth when the bag is distended, said bag including a closed bottom and having a score line disposed completely thereabout adjacent to and spaced from and substantially parallel to the a mouth edge, said bag when in collapsed flat condition having the opposite outer marginal edges of its mouth portion above said score line fiaring outwardly 'at an angle from the score line to permanently enlarge and gradually expand said mouth portion, the body of said bag when in said collapsed ilat condition below said score line having marginal edges denlng a substantially rectangular coniiguration, -said score line serving to arrest tearing of the cellulose bag material at the mouth portion during iilling and said outwardly flaring mouth portion serving to compensate for normal contraction of the mouth portion when the bag is distended for lling, to the end that when so distended the entire conguratlon of the bagincluding the mouth portion above the score line is substantially rectangular.

THOMAS E. PIAZZE. 

